The Palatka daily news. (Palatka, Fla.) 1884-1888, 1887-06-19
Grain rambling.

\ View Tr1bune, yth-
| Twenty-eight hundred cars loaded
/ with wheat. some of them containing
| 1900 bushels are said to be accumulated
at Chicago awaiting opportunity to un-
load The elevators are so full that
holders of wheat on the track are pay
| ing to owners of corn and oats in eIe-
vator bonus to get the grain
| moved out, 50 that there NAV
| be more room for wheat. The
damage done to the general trade of the
| city is so great that there rises an earnest
protest from business men of all classes,
against the continuance of the unnatural
| market, and against continued aid by
the banks To the dangerous speculation
now in progress. Large sums of money
have been withdrawn froLh the East in
order to aid this operation, and the ex-
ports of grain have been materially af-
fected.
But objections aad protests come too
late. 1t makes not bit of difference
how hurtful to general trade this opera
ton may be. not "A bit of difference how
much peril to others it may involve: the
parties interested have involved them
selves so that they have millions at stake,
and they will save themselves first if
they can, and moraliZe afterward. The
evil begins in the existence of a market
for speculation in grain; mar
to use large and Legitimate
trade as its basis. If the gambler can
force the miller to pay 81 per bushel for
the wheat to be ground into flour for the
food of the people, he will use his adj
vantage to the utmost, and meanwhile
will indulge a hearty contempt for "A
public opinion which Processes to cen
sure his transaction, but which gets on
its knees before him. so to speak. if he
raaIizaS n million i'm urotitS
The Illinois Legislature has enacted
laws designed to stop this kind of gamb-
ling in the necessaries of life. But they
have been fruitless. Few laws are of
much use in the absence of a public
sentiment to support and enforce them.
For many years most of the newspa-
pers of Chicago have treated spectators
| as the most useful merchants and valu-
able citizens of that city. and have con-
stantly argued that the creation of Il
large market for farm products was
most beneficial to the former The truth
is that large part of the powerful com
petition which American farmers
now have to meet. and which has for
years so sOrely depressed prices of their
products, has been due to the facilities
given in this country to gambling in
wheat. Because the American specula-
tor did more than once hold prices i'm
this country far above those in Europe,
keeping hack the American supply in
order to force other countries To pay an
unnatural price. railroads have been
built in India and Russia, wheat grow
ing has been stimulated in Australia. and
tariffs almost prohibitOry have
been enacted in Germany and France.
and the dependence of the world upon
the American supply has in every way
been reduced as far as possible. The
consequence is that farmers of this
country do not get a fair price for their
wheat, and every year that speculation
is suffered to rule the markets here, the
outlook of the American farmers grows
more unpromising. In time a wiser
public opinion will prevail here, holding
speculation in food products hostile to
public welfare, and the gambler in grain
an enemy of the American producer.